Its a Girl Thing
by Svendances
Summary: Well this little ditty is in conjunction with my lies, but there are no lies involved. I will eventually continue when I find the proper solution. Suggestions are welcom.
1. The Crisis

_This came to me as I was walking through the supermarket and well, like all ideas I have I had to execute it. Hope you enjoy it. There will probably be more._

**It's a Girl Thing**

Ranger sat in front of the television, waiting for his wife to come home so they could go to bed. Tonight he was subjecting himself to five straight hours of Will and Grace; he found it surprisingly funny and was reluctant to look away when he heard footsteps outside the living room. He hadn't heard the front door, so it had to be one of the kids.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Ranger asked her, without turning from the television. "It's almost eleven o'clock and you have school in the morning."

Peigi's voice was timid when she spoke, which was very much unlike her. "Where's Mum?" she asked softly, standing awkwardly in the doorway with her hands folded in front of her.

"She's still out, she won't be home for another hour at least; you know that. Why?"

She screwed up her face a little and shrugged slightly. "I need to talk to her."

Ranger let out a burst of laughter at the television before replying. "You can talk to me if you like." He had always told her that he was there to listen. And he thought it was important that she knew that he was still able to listen now to whatever she wanted to talk about. "What's up?" he pat the cushion next to him on the couch indicating that she should sit down.

Peigi didn't budge. Instead she shook her head emphatically and said, "No I need to talk to Mum about this one."

Her father shrugged, "What ever you want to talk about I'm sure it'd be better if you just talked about it now rather than waiting until your mother gets home. You'll be too tired by then and you need to sleep if you want to get good grades in school."

"Dad, I really don't want to bridge this topic with you. It's kind of," she paused for a moment, trying to think of how to phrase it, "sensitive."

As he picked up the remote and muted the television, Ranger told her, "I can do sensitive."

Peigi grimaced, uncertain of that fact. "It's a girl thing Dad," she persisted.

"Peigi, let me assure you that whatever you want to talk about I can handle." Even though the television was silent he still hadn't taken his eyes off it. He was following the soundless action with rapt attention.

"Are you sure?" she asked, doubting him. He nodded in reply. "I'm a woman."

Finally Ranger removed his gaze from the set, fixing it securely on his daughter where she stood uncomfortably in the doorway to the living room, her nightie gathered in her fist at the front so that where it usually fell to the floor it only reached half way down her shin. "Fuck," he uttered quietly, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck."

In spite of the situation there was a small half smile on Peigi's face. "You see why I wanted to talk to Mum and not you?"

Ranger's only reply was, "Fuck."


	2. Calling in Backup

**Chapter 2**

Launching himself from the couch he began to pace back and forth between the couch and the coffee table. As his legs moved his mouth was firing off rapid Spanish. Peigi had only heard her father speak this fast in a foreign language once before and that was the day he brother was to be born. He'd been out of town at the time, on a business call and when Peigi had called him on her mother's orders, and told him that the next door neighbour was driving her to the hospital to have the baby. It hadn't quite been the same though, given that Peigi was only five or six at the time. She'd just thought her father was speaking funny and laughed.

Usually foreign languages were reserved for when he and his mother were trying to be sneaky and when sometimes when he was on the phone to a different country.

Suddenly he stopped in the middle of his rant and turned to face his little girl again, his eyes wide and wild. "Are you absolutely sure?"

Peigi scoffed. "I think I'd know when I'm bleeding from my vagina Dad," she told him.

"Fuck," was once again his only reply as he launched himself into another string of Spanish and began pacing once more. Peigi wasn't entirely sure, but from what she could gather, most of what he was saying was bad words. "What am I supposed to do?" he finally screamed, throwing his hands up into the air and looking at the ceiling as if the answer was written there.

"Well, I did say that I wanted to speak to Mum and not you," Peigi almost laughed.

"I know, I know. God damn. What am I gonna do?" By now he was muttering to himself. "What would Stephanie do?"

"For a start she would show me what to do," Peigi told him, amused by his reaction. She had never seen her father, the big army man, so frazzled.

"Well I can't do that," Ranger told her on an eye roll.

"I know that. But I don't know what to do. I'm only thirteen for crying out loud." Her tone was light, given her father's reaction, but on the inside she was a little freaked out by it.

"Is there someone you can call?" he asked.

"Dad, none of my friends have ever had their period before, I'm the first."

At this Ranger thrashed his head up against the bookcase. His hair, which had been perfectly combed into place before Peigi came down stairs, was now flying about every which way. His eyes were wild and his brow furrowed. Peigi hadn't even realised the two features could co-exist on the same face, but there was the proof right before her.

"Isn't there someone _you_ could call?" Peigi asked, inwardly a little distressed now. "I'm sure all the girls you know have had their period." Ranger slapped his forehead and reached for the phone, his face a little less clouded now. "Wait a minute Dad, who are you calling?"

"Your Grandmother, who else would I call?"

Now it was Peigi's turn to be all wild eyed. "DAD! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!! ISN'T THERE SOMEONE, ANYONE ELSE YOU CAN THINK OF?"

Ranger dropped the phone to his side. She had a point, he sure as hell didn't want to confront his mother-in-law over this subject. _Think, Ranger, think. _"What about Ella?"

Peigi shrugged. "I guess that's okay."

Again Ranger hit himself in the forehead. "Damn. She's on vacation. Who else is there?" Wracking his brain now as he paced the length of the room. _Not Mrs Plum, not Ella, definitely not Lula, I don't think Connie would be a good choice; who did that leave? MARY LOU! "_MARY LOU!" he exclaimed in triumph hitting the speed dial, which had quite obviously been programmed by Stephanie.

After several moment of strained conversation Ranger's face fell again and he thanked the person on the other end. "She's out of town visiting her mother," Ranger told Peigi incredulously. With the phone still in his hand he continued to scroll down the menu. Then next number he came across was Julie's. _What the heck,_ he thought, _I can at least give it a shot. _It took several rings before she finally picked up. "Hey, Julie," he greeted, "Its Dad."

The voice on the other end was slow and thick with sleep. "Dad, what time is it?"

Chuckling nervously at his daughter he replied, "Its eleven thirty. Listen I have a bit of a situation over here." Julie had recently moved to Jersey City following a job offer in the area, so it wouldn't be too much trouble, he hoped.

"What's wrong?" she seemed a little more awake now. "What's happened."

"It's Peigi."

"Where is she? Is she hurt? What can I do?"

"She's fine, she just got her… first one," he attempted to put it subtly.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. Peigi was mentally hitting herself. "Where's Steph?" she asked.

"She's out. Doing a distraction job."

She sighed. "Put Peigi on." Ranger passed the phone to his daughter and went and sat on the couch. "Peigi, how are feeling? Alright? What did he try?" Peigi told her about her father's hideous plans. "Oh God, honey. You just hang tight, I'll be over there in a flash." She couldn't believe her father's insensitivity. The man was an ex-special forces, renowned for keeping his cool in tough situations and he freaked when his daughter told him she got her first period? Unbeleivable.


	3. A Successful Mission

**Chapter 3**

Julie made the drive in record time. She had never really been that involved in her half sister's life, but in the words of that chick in "The Wedding Date" She was her half sister, but she whole loved her. It had been a while since they had last spent quality time together. Julie's job had taken up a lot of her time in recent months, but she still had never forgotten the kid.

She was thirteen years older than the cutie, but they seemed to have a lot in common. Julie had asked for her opinion on a dress design once, and Peigi, the little genius, had suggested taking the hemline up a few inches and crossing the shoulder straps at the back. Later, sitting on the floor in Peigi's room, they had changed the hem line once more so that it swooped from the middle of the left thigh to just below the right knee. That was the very same design that had won over the company now employing her.

As she burst through the front door Ranger was in front of her hugging her and thanking her as if she had just awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize. Like he was even capable of winning it. "Where's Peigi?" Julie asked, brushing her father off in a business like manner.

"Bathroom," he choked out, pointing up at the second floor landing.

It took her three large steps from the bottom of the stairs to the bathroom door, where she knocked softly. "Piggy?" she called. "Can I come in?" The door was unlocked and Julie entered. "How are you feeling?" Piegi made a bit of a face. "Pretty ratty, hey? Well don't worry, we'll get you sorted."

With a small smile the younger girl gave her half sister a huge hug. When they broke apart there were tears in her eyes. Julie wiped them away with her thumbs. She proceeded to show Peigi how to use a pad, figuring that she was too young to use tampons. She then ran a nice warm bath for her sister and left her to sit and relax in the bubbles for a while.

When she came back down the stairs her father was sitting at the kitchen bench with a coffee held in both hands. He attempted to smile as she entered the room, but it didn't work real well. Julie was laughing a little. "Dad," was all she could manage through he laughter, shaking her head.

"I freaked!" he exclaimed. "I had no idea what to do. Steph hadn't prepared me for that! I wasn't in your life when you got your first one. I was completely and utterly in the dark!"

"I know," she squeaked, "but its just so funny. All my life, you've been the one to turn to when there was a problem and then WHAM that went out the window in a matter of moments."

"How is she?" he asked, his head hung in shame.

"She's fine, Dad. A little crampy from what I can figure. I've got her sitting in a bubble bath. Have you changed her sheets?"

"No, I'm afraid to go in there."

Again, his daughter shook her head. "When should Steph be back?"

"Tank just called, its taking longer than they thought, they're gonna be another couple of hours."

Julie made herself a coffee and Peigi a hot chocolate and took them both upstairs. After sitting for a few minutes with her half sister, she excused herself to deal with the sheets. That's when she heard a small voice at the end of the hall.

"Julie?" Emmet asked, "Whats going on?"

Julie saw the little boy peeking out of his bedroom a concerned look on his face. "Never mind, Em. Why don't you go back to bed. I'll be in in a few minutes to tuck you in okay?"

He nodded and returned to his room leaving Julie to change the sheets in Peigi's room and take them down to the washing machine before coming back up to say good night to the seven year old. When he was once again safely sleeping Julie returned to the bathroom and Peigi.

"Thank you for helping me Jools," Peigi told her. "Dad was completely clueless. It was kinda funny to see him so flustered, but I don't blame him. I had no idea what to do, and I couldn't very well expect him to."

Julie laughed. "Yeah, he's pretty useless at this kind of thing isn't he? That's why we have mothers and yours is a great one. For her to be able to have the effect she has on Dad is truly amazing. Dad used to be the lone wolf type. He led a solitary life and thought that he would keep it that way. He'd had a taste of married life with my mom and well it obviously had a funny aftertaste, cause he stayed alone for years afterward. Then he met Stephanie and well, I noticed a change right away. I was only about nine at the time, but I distinctly remember the day I noticed the change in him. When he picked me up for his one weekend he had a smile on his face. And when I asked him why he said he was just thinking about something that happened at work." She shook her head at the memory. "I knew well enough that Dad's business was dangerous stuff and that half the reason he left was because he felt he was putting me and mum in danger, it struck me as strange that he would be smiling at something that happened at work."

Peigi was listening intently as her half sister continued to ramble. She doubted she even realised she was telling her all this, but she didn't want to stop her. Dad rarely spoke about the past, stating that everything that happened before this moment didn't matter, except when it came to when she misbehaved of course; then it was always "That's the third time this week," and " If you do that again you'll be living in a cardboard box in the subway in the middle of New York."

Julie continued to regail Peigi with the tales of her own youth, including the time she had been kidnapped and Stephanie had been kidnapped with her while trying to rescue her. When she finally realised that she had been talking the whole time, the water had gone cold and Peigi was shivering a little. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, "I'm so sorry! You should have said something."

With a shake of her head, Peigi replied, "I was afraid you'd stop. I like when you tell me stories."

Once Peigi was dried and dressed she went down stairs to say goodnight to her father. He was still sitting at the bench with a cup of coffee. She gave him a big hug. When she finally released him she had a huge smile on her face. "Thank you Daddy," she said, kissing him on the cheek before going back to bed.

Looking at his older daughter, Ranger asked, "What was that about?"

Julie simply shrugged and replied, "It's a girl thing."

**The End**

_Now everyone, on the count of three "AWW". One. Two. Three. AWWWWWW. Well this has been a pleasure to write and I hope you all liked it. I'm currently formulating more plans for my favourite daughter of the Cuban Hottie. So stay tuned._


End file.
